Updated: Busby Babe Kenny Morgans dies after short illness

A Welsh footballer who formed part of the iconic Manchester United Busby Babes side has died at the age of 73.

Kenny Morgans, the Swansea-born former Manchester United winger who was the youngest surviving member of the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, has died aged 73.

The former professional footballer, ship’s chandler and pub landlord of Cwmdonkin, Swansea, died on Sunday after a short illness.

He joined Manchester United as a 15-year-old where he shared digs with a young Sir Bobby Charlton.

He was apprenticed to a local shipyard while at the same time learning his trade as a footballer.

He became part of the famous "Busby Babes" team managed by Manchester United legend Sir Matt Busby which was devastated by the Munich air crash.

The Welshman had an incredible escape from the disaster, being discovered unconscious under a wheel in the twisted plane wreckage by two German journalists hours after it was initially searched by police and firemen.

On February 6, 1958, after qualifying for the European Cup semi-finals in Belgrade, the plane carrying the Manchester United team, as well as coaches and journalists, crashed on its third attempt to take off from Munich Airport where it had stopped to refuel. In total, 23 of the 44 people on board lost their lives, including eight of the Busby Babes, the set of youngsters who had the football world at their feet under the guidance of Matt Busby.

Kenny had been playing cards with colleagues Bill Foulkes, David Pegg and Albert Scanlon on the first half of the return trip from Belgrade but that had changed, along with the mood, after two aborted attempts to take off.

Although he made a full physical recovery following the crash and was back in the side before the end of the season, he never regained his form on the pitch, and left the club in 1961, having made 23 first-team appearances.

Jim White, author of Manchester United: The Biography, said: "Kenny himself said his heart was not in it after the crash.

"He was more than lucky to survive, you couldn’t see it happening like that these days. the two journalists who found him were looking for documents and film.

"He was back in training after just a week in hospital because the club was desperate for players."

Kenny Morgans later ran a pub in Swansea and played for Swansea Town and Newport County before retiring from football in 1967.

On Sunday, Manchester United issued this statement: "Manchester United today confirms the sad news that former player Kenny Morgans has died. He was 73.

"The Welshman - a survivor of the Munich air disaster in 1958 - was taken ill on Saturday night and later passed away in hospital.

"Staff at the football club send their deepest condolences to Kenny's family and friends.

"Kenny played for the Reds as a winger in the late 1950s, making his debut at the age of 18 against Leicester City on December 21, 1957.

"Less than two months later, he travelled to Belgrade for the ill-fated European Cup trip and sustained injuries when the teams plane crashed in Munich.

"Although he recovered from his crash injuries and was able to continue his playing career, Kenny spent the large part of his time as a footballer back in his native Wales, leaving Old Trafford for Swansea in 1961 and later joining Newport County before retiring in 1967.

"Kenny returned to Old Trafford for two notable events in recent years - for the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy in 2008, and latterly an Association of Former Manchester United Players dinner at which he was the guest of honour."

Speaking about the crash on the club’s website in 2008, Kenny said: "I was sat by the window looking out. I was frightened to death. I remember thinking ‘the plane can’t go any faster and we’re not in the air’.

"I remember hitting the fence at the end of the runway, then I blacked out. At about eight or nine o’clock that night, two German reporters went back to the plane to look for something and I was still there. I was the last out.

"Once the plane hit the fence, it had pushed me underneath the plane to the luggage compartment at the back.

"I woke up on the Sunday morning, with Albert Scanlon, Bobby Charlton and Ray Wood and thought the other players would be in a different room. Then the professor of the hospital came round and told me of the players that had died, and said that Matt (Busby) , Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards were upstairs."

Of Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor, two of the United stars who died, Kenny said: " I used to call for them to train every morning for three months, so I got to know them like brothers. I missed them a lot."

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